Links for 30/4

Solar loans light up rural India
BBC Online
More than 100,000 people in rural India have benefited from an innovative loan scheme that helps families buy home solar power systems, the UN has said.

Air India-Indian merger to take two years
Monsters and Critics
The formalities of the merger between Air India and Indian will take nearly two years to be completed, says V. Thulasidas, chairperson and managing director of Air India here.

India’s ICICI Bank to raise $5bn
Financial Times Alphaville
India’s ICICI Bank is to raise Rs200bn ($5bn) by selling new shares this year as the country’s largest private-sector lender prepares for an increase in investment by domestic companies of “historic” proportions. In what will be by far the largest share issuance by an Indian company, ICICI will raise three-quarters of the new capital through an American depositary receipt issue, with the remainder raised in India.

India ICICI Bank Q4 Net Below Expectations
Reuters
India's second-largest lender, ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO: Quote, Profile , Research), lagged forecasts with a 4.4 percent rise in quarterly profits due partly to soaring provisions, and the bank said it would raise $5 billion in a sale of new shares.

Cairn India appoints UK-based JP Kenny to build 800 mln usd pipeline
Hemscott
Cairn India has hired UK-based JP Kenny to construct an 800 mln usd crude pipeline to evacuate crude from its Barmer fields in Rajasthan, the Economic Times reported.

India's "breadbasket" aims to be new IT hotspot
Reuters
Fed up with traffic snarls and scarred roads, a software engineer in India's flagship IT hub of Bangalore took to the streets in protest last year -doodling on his laptop while trotting along on a bullock-cart.

Citi, Lehman lead race for India's IFCI stake: paper
Reuters
Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile , Research) and Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile , Research) are leading the race to acquire a 26 percent strategic stake in Indian long-term lender IFCI Ltd. (IFCI.BO: Quote, Profile , Research), the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.

Indians turn deaf ear to warning on troubles for economy
The Times Online
India was in celebratory mood last week as it became the twelfth country to pass the trillion-dollar mark in terms of gross domestic product. It was not quite so ready to listen to lurking concerns about the stability of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies . . . a case, perhaps, of not letting the bad news get in the way of a good news story.